The Federation of Malaysia is made up of three detached territories being;
Malaya, Sarawak, and Sabah. Malaysia is a slender and very mountainous
coastline just to the southern region of Thailand.
Sarawak and Sabah are located the north region of Borneo;
an island consisting three different countries. Malaysia
also has a land boundary with Indonesia.
Although Malaysia
has an equatorial climate, the constriction and topographic composition of each
section; central mountainous cores with flat, flanking coastal plains, assist the
inland saturation of maritime climatic influences. The monsoons further modify
the climate.
Temperatures
Given Malaysia
is an equatorial country, the whole of Malaysia
experiences an equatorial climate with high climates and wet months round the
year. However the annual variation here is only less than 3°C. The principal
differences of climate within the country are those occurring from difference
of altitude and the coverage of the coastal lowlands to the irregular southwest
and northeast monsoon winds.
Temperatures
are consistently high throughout the year. On the cape, climates average around
27°C. However the coastal areas in East Malaysia see minimum temperatures
averaging at 23°C, and high temperatures
soar up to around 32°C; temperatures
again are relatively lower in the highlands were altitude varies greatly.
Sunshine
Average hours of sunshine differ to that of the amount of precipitation that
falls. Sunshine hours range from four to five hours throughout the wettest
months to eight to nine hours in the dry season.
Malaysia
experiences profuse sunshine and solar radiation. However it’s exceptionally
uncommon to have a full day of clear blue skies even throughout times of
serious drought. This is because the vast amounts of cloud cut off huge amounts
of sunshine and as a result increasing the UV and solar radiation.
Precipitation and Humidity
The annual mean precipitation on the cape of Malaysia
ranges at approximately 2540mm. The most dehydrated location being Kuala
Kelawang, a small town near Kuala Lumpur
which obtains only 1650mm of rainfall per year. The rainiest area is Maxwell’s
Hill at this region receives 5000mm per year. Though Sarawak only obtains
3050mm of rainfall annually, regions in Sabah
is much more diverse ranging between 2030mm to 3560mm per year.
The humidity in Malaysia
is very high, with monthly averages varying only between 3% to 15% in any
region of the country. The average relative humidity varies from a low 84% in
February to a high of only 88% in November in Peninsular Malaysia.
Monsoon
There are four seasons in a climatic year in Malaysia made up by the
northeast monsoon; from November or December until March, the first
inter-monsoonal period; March to April or May, the southwest monsoon; May or
June to September or early October, and the second inter-monsoonal period;
October to November. .
The heavy rain occurs in the afternoon and can last until midnight. When the
storms do hit, they are relatively short and the rains actually bring a cooling
atmosphere to the city.
From March to April, another monsoon approaches from the west and hits
regions such as Kuala Lumpur,
Malacca and Penang directly, bringing the most rainfall to Kuala Lumpur.
The driest periods however are in the western region and are usually between
May till July, where there is a respite from the monsoon season.
